


Deathly Affectionate

by Nekopyo



Category: Exalted (game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-19
Updated: 2009-12-19
Packaged: 2017-10-04 15:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nekopyo/pseuds/Nekopyo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Disciple of Seven Forbidden Wisdoms found his old lover, and he's hatched a plan to get back together. With the help of Black Ice Shadow, he intends to win back his old love, or go on a murderous rampage. Hopefully both.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deathly Affectionate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Avery](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Avery).



> This story might differ somewhat from Exalted canon. I admit I took some slight liberties with the mechanics of the story. Based more heavily on First Edition, rather than Second Edition.
> 
>  
> 
> P.S.
> 
> Special thanks for JackOfNone, Kastaka and Miarr for awesome jobs of beta'ing my story for me. Be it grammar, plot or even canonical relevance, between the three of you, you've improved this fic so much it's absolutely ridiculous.  
> It definitely wouldn't have been the same if not for you.

****  


# Deathly Affectionate

  


 

He was called the Disciple of Seven Forbidden Wisdoms. It wasn’t his name by birth, or even his name by death, but he had it for a while now. The Malfean Godsgave him his name, after the Mask of Winters took him to their shrines below the Underworld. The name was a mark of his loyalty to the Gods of Undeath and their cause. And possibly a prophecy he had yet to fulfill. Maybe. He wasn’t sure of the details.

He used to be proud of his name. He still _was _proud to have it, sure, but after a couple centuries you started to feel self-conscious about a name like that. Nowadays, like all the Death Knights, he abbreviated it for comfort.   

It was weird how often he thought of the time he went to the catacombs, these days. Rather, it was weird how often he thought about his past life at all. Usually, he was pretty task-oriented. Seven had rarely daydreamed or reminisced, but since the battle at Thorns, it felt as though he did little else.

They took Thorns a fortnight ago. The Juggernaut – a mobile fortress built on a massive corpse. Yes, it smelled as bad as it sounded – simply crawled up to the city, and they blasted its defenses apart. It took maybe half a day, and now the city had neither a main gate nor a central street. Whenever he looked outside, he could see the stretches of Shadowland that trailed away from the city, like scars on the very face of Creation. Some were nearly two leagues long. It was awesome.

But what really held his interest since the fight in Thorns was a face, glimpsed from afar when they broke through the main gate. It wasn’t the face he remembered, but he’d know Gold-Shadowed Arrow no matter what face he wore. That was the reason he thought of his past life so much. It was the reason he was heading to the Seeking Room, a special chamber the Mask of Winters had furnished especially for divination spells.  

In front of the massive doorway leading to the Seeking Room, he spotted Black Ice Shadow lounging against the wall — probably waiting for his arrival. He was one of a group of Sidereal servants the Mask of Winters had created for himself. Literally. Seven knew of at least three Sidereals whose souls the Deathlord had torn from their still-living bodies. He had helped with two of them — one was Black Ice Shadow.

To the best of Seven’s knowledge, the young Sidereal did not know how he was conceived, though his skin was the unmistakable pasty white of Ghost-Blooded – born from ghosts and spirits. Considering what Seven’s sorcery and the Nemissaries did to his mother’s body to birth him, it was probably a blessing. Currently Seven was mentoring the younger Exalted, until his skills would be sufficient to admit him to the Deathlord’s Sidereal Circle.

Not that Black Ice Shadow was unskilled; far from it. After the last two weeks, though, Seven doubted the Sidereal had to use his powers over fate to predict he would come to this room. Again.

“Are you in the habit of stalking hallways, Black? I think we already have enough haunts about the place.” Seven always shortened his disciple’s name; it was far too ironic to pass up. If the Sidereal minded, however, he never showed it. “Were you coming over to offer me your assistance?”

“I did come to offer assistance, and to learn from the Circle.” Black Ice Shadow’s voice was a deep, growling baritone — contrasting his lean body almost as sharply as his dark hair contrasted his white skin. “Frankly, I’m surprised you still have anything left to divine, coming here as often as you did these last few weeks.”

 “I _have_ been coming here often,” he conceded. Truthfully, he had come here every day since the battle, pestering the Sidereals for information on Gold-Shadowed Arrow. “Though I’ve finished with the divination spells. I’ve learned enough. All that’s left is to find him.”

Black Ice Shadow shook his head wearily. “I’m afraid I still can’t understand your fixation. Have you talked to the Lord Mask of Winters about this little expedition of yours?”

Seven almost smiled. “The Lord, in his benevolence, gave me free reign. Actually, I’m quite pleased you came. You’ll make what I have in mind much easier.” He threw open the double doors.

The chamber inside was like an auguring treasure-trove. The Mask of Winters had spared no expense.  A large desk, bearing a map of all known Creation, dominated the center of the room. All around the table, metal arcs and glass spheres whirred and hummed in a complex dance, bearing lens and rulers. The walls were covered with pictures of the stars, magically shifting in time with their counterparts in the sky, designed for astrological predictions.

All around the desk there were figures wearing long red robes, shuffling quietly. As Seven entered the room, the nearest man turned to face him, bowing so deep his cowl went below his clasped arms.

“My Lord Knight,” the Circle member greeted Seven. “To what do we owe the honor of your visit?”

“The woman I had you divine over these last two weeks — find her for me,” said Seven impatiently. Honestly. After fourteen days you would think they would know why he came to this chamber. Masters over fate, indeed.




The man nodded and turned to the large table. As one the other members of the Circle joined him, and began working their seeking magic.

Around the table, the arcs quickened their pace, whirling until they became almost blurs, while the runes of power engraved in the floor began glowing with energy. To Seven’s eyes, the room was growing dizzyingly colorful, as the colors of the Circle’s Essence began swirling around them in brilliant purple, yellow and orange. The swirls of magic wrapped themselves tighter around the robed figures, spinning off colorful strands of magic to the arches and spheres, like a loom spinning threads.

Black Ice Shadow was standing near him, avidly studying the magic the Circle was casting. Like them, he was a Sidereal, so he always paid attention to divinations and seeking spells being worked — learning until he too would be allowed into the Circle. Seven, however, could make neither head nor heels of this sorcery. He could feel and see the magical Essence being used by the other Exalted, nothing more.

Suddenly, the arcs started to slow, while three of the lenses focused on a particular spot over the large map. The glass spheres shimmered and turned from opaque to clear. Inside, Seven could see a small village in fine detail. He could use those images for transportation spells into unfamiliar areas.

“We have found the woman, Lord Knight.” The Circle member nearest to him said. “She is in a small village, a league or so to the west of Larjyn. Would you desire one of us to cast the spell for your transportation?”

“No.” Seven could feel the smile growing on his face. Found him at last. “This is a personal matter. I’d prefer to handle it myself.” He studied the spot under the lenses for several moments before turning to Black Ice Shadow. “If you’re ready, we’ll leave now.”

His disciple simply nodded. Seven spread his arms and began the spell to transport them to the place shown in the glass spheres. As he began shaping the magic, his Essence swirled around him, black instead of the Sidereals’ purple and yellow. The swirls grew larger and fiercer as he directed more of his power into the sorcery, his arms pulsing with the dark energy.

The Essence for his sorcery was whirling around Black Ice Shadow and him much more densely as his spell progressed. Already the rest of the room was hidden by the black whirlwind surrounding them. Here and there, glimpses of the way to the small village became visible for a moment within the swirling storm: a snatched image of a forest, where a few errant leaves twisted in the flow of Essence, came into view.  A spirit of the woods, green and almost human, stared at them in surprise for a moment before the image was swept away as well.

Seven could feel them approaching their destination, and the spell nearing its finish. The swirling storm around them was too dense by now to see through, but he could smell fresh dirt and growing plants, a smell so foreign to the Juggernaut he had almost forgotten it.  The Essence tightened about them like water draining into a hole, pulling at them until, suddenly, they were no longer _here_, but _there_.

And in the massive fortress of the Juggernaut, leagues away, the remains of the magic dissipated like smoke in the wind — leaving behind nothing except the tiled floor, covered with magical runes, and for a brief moment, the smell of growing plants.

 

* * *

 

Her name was Harmonious Jade, and she had spent a large portion of her life hating the people who gave it to her. In fact, until fairly recently, she had hated almost everyone she knew. Hating made her job a lot simpler, gave her some semblance of reason to kill people for money. A reason that didn’t make her feel like the worst scum in Creation, at least. Nowadays, though, recalling her blind hatred made her feel like a child being sulky.

Her Exaltation had changed everything. Her unreasonable hatred was replaced with a sense of purpose, a calling that felt more… noble. She no longer had to accept the confinements of her old life. She could finally stop hating everyone and stop looking for excuses for living as she had.

After her Exaltation she had met Zeroun. He had told her more about her new mission from the Sun God, and how to live up to the faith He had placed in her. Zeroun was also the one who had shown her where her previous body was buried, as a lesson against conceit and close-mindedness. As always when she thought of him, she played with the small bracelet he had given her as a farewell present. Zeroun had a penchant for giving unusual gifts — she wouldn’t have put it past him to tinker with the bracelet somehow, though she couldn’t feel any magic off the thing.

She had met other Solars since parting with him, though they had not stayed together for very long. Her mission from the Sun God was calling her, like a rope tugging at her mind. It was despairing to realize the others couldn’t feel the pull. Oh, each one had his own grand design for restoring what was right in the world, but in the end they couldn’t agree on a single plan. They had all drifted apart after a time, not knowing what to say to each other any longer.

So now she was alone, looking for injustices to right. She didn’t really have any great plan, but so long as she followed the voice calling in her mind, she always seemed to find plenty of wrongdoing.

Privately, though, she was troubled by how much her life since her Exaltation was similar to her life before. She hoped just thinking it in her head wasn’t sacrilege.

At the moment, she was resting in the inn of a small village, a league or so from the Chayan city Larjyn, one of the many farming settlement that stretched between the larger towns of the Republic. The village had a weird, throaty name – Rurak or Rusrack, something like that.

It was, in a word, a hole. A tiny settlement in a backwards Republic leagues away from anywhere really worth noting. The inn itself was pretty ramshackle. The interior was dim, the benches narrow and hard, and the food best not mentioned. Harmonious Jade considered herself to be fairly accepting when it came to accommodations, but if there had been another inn within reasonable distance, she wouldn’t have entered.

She probably wasn’t the only one to harbor such sentiments. The inn wasn’t even half full.  That meant there were less people to notice her, yet she stood out more. It depended on your perspective, really.

The role she had chosen to play this time to avoid calling attention to herself was that of a mercenary soldier, looking to work in one of the merchant caravans traveling between cities. She was dressed the part, in light leather armor, and having her bow helped complete the costume. Of course, she had to keep her bow covered in her spare cloak, because the magical weapon was anything _but_ standard equipment for the soldier she was pretending to be. It was another little prize from her trip with Zeroun to the grave of her past incarnation: a marvelous bow wrought from orichalcum, with fanciful eagle heads worked into the body.

So far, her disguise had earned her privacy, while not being too overt. Farmers usually tended to keep their distance from soldiers, and little boys looking for stories of battle tended to flock to larger groups of burly men rather than one lone woman. Just as she had hoped.

She signaled the waitress over — a tall girl, though so thin she looked unhealthy — and asked for another mug of tea. Normally, she’d really like a stronger drink, but the ale in this tavern looked like dog piss, and tasted worse than it looked. She hadn’t even managed to down the first mug she’d asked for, opting instead to push it to the very edge of the table and ignore it.

The waitress brought her a second mug of tea, and flashed a smile with dimples. Harmonious Jade thanked her, and watched as she went on to wait on some other patron. She seemed a very nice girl, but she really was too skinny. Tips or no tips.

Someone was approaching her table. A tall man with pale skin and hair, like those from the far north. He was dressed in light armor, same as her, though wearing far too much black. It was sad how some people still thought wearing all black made them appear more intimidating, or — worse — more stealthy. Harmonious Jade felt that someone from the north, where the land was mostly covered in ice, should have known better.

The man sat down on the bench across from her, and placed one of the two mugs he was holding in front of her. Up close, she noticed his eyes were also pale — a very light blue. She also noticed he had brought her a mug of ale, and decided she disliked him already.

“Unless you have a very persuasive reason to sit in this table, take that vile drink back and get lost.” The man opened his mouth to answer, but she raised an admonishing finger. “And let me warn you, saying I looked lonesome is _not_ a very persuasive reason.”

He smiled, as if she’d made some great joke, and took a sip of his mug. It was quite satisfying to see how his smile soured around the cup as he spluttered. “Bleargh. You’re right. It _is_ vile.” Harmonious Jade narrowed her eyes, and he waved his hand. “Oh, stop glowering. I just thought I’d come and reminisce with an old friend.”

“I thought we had to know one another to be old friends?” She hoped he wasn’t some fool trying to flirt with her just because she sat alone. Breaking his arm would call altogether too much attention to her.

“Oh, we know each other quite well.” He was smiling again, and she was debating maybe breaking a few fingers wouldn’t raise too much fuss. “We’ve even met fairly recently, although we haven’t properly talked in quite a while. My name is Seven. I already know yours.”

“Oh?” She affected a casual tone, trying to look at other patrons over his head without being too obvious. If he knew her name, he might be a Wyld Hunter, and that would mean he wouldn’t dare come alone. There were maybe ten others in the inn who looked like soldiers, but—

“I also know quite a bit else.” The presumed-Hunter continued, and she turned her eyes back to him. “I know where you were before you came to this village, and how you left your companions behind. I know what you did in Gem as a child, and how you ran away from that. I even,” he tapped her bow with his foot, “know what you have in there.”

She was looking only at him now. No Hunter could have known what he was talking about. No one at all should have known all of that. She kept one hand limp on the table, while her other hand edged to the knife in her belt. “You said we met recently. Where was that, exactly?” She smiled at him politely. She only had to stall him another few seconds.

“You know where.” He leaned closer to her, and she could suddenly see the shadowy disc on his forehead, the black particles of magical energy — normally invisible — flitting around him. She knew where she had seen him even before he spoke the name.

“Thorns.”

She started to surge forward — her free hand grasping the table edge, ready to topple it to make a barrier between them — when the Abyssal Exalted put his hand calmly on top of the table. “I wouldn’t draw that knife, if I were you.”

She froze, the knife half-drawn, and he continued talking in the same easy tone. “Because if you happen to make a scene, my associate —” He gestured with his head towards the door, where an even paler man sat. When he saw her looking, the pale man beamed and waved at her. She hadn’t seen him when she scanned the place before. “— will slaughter every other man in this tavern. It won’t take him more than a few seconds.”

Harmonious Jade forced her hand to relax from the hilt of the knife, and sat back down on the bench. She didn’t doubt he could carry out his threat — she had seen the Abyssals do far worse in Thorns. “Leave them alone,” she growled at him. “You’re here for me. No one else is of any interest to you.”

“You’re right, but it’s a handy way to keep you peaceful.”  He leaned back in his seat and smiled at her. “Besides, we are a bit hungry.”

Harmonious Jade leaned back, forcing herself to breath deeply. The longer she stayed in the tavern, the more she put everyone else at risk. If these two monsters were truly only after her, than the best course of action was to draw them away from the town as quickly as possible. Then, she hoped she could either kill them quickly or outrun them in the forests to the east.

She dug in her purse, and placed a handful of jade bits on the table. It was probably much more than the drinks were worth, even with the two mugs Seven brought, but right now the money was the last thing on her mind.

“I’m leaving this village right now,” she hissed at the Abyssal, “and if you try to follow me, I swear I’ll kill you.” She hoped the threat would actually draw him to her. Better she face him than the poor people here.

Then she got up and left, not even looking at the pale man by the door.

As soon as she was outside the tavern, she started running. She didn’t dare to look back.

 

* * *

 

After his lover left, he waved for Black Ice Shadow to join him at the table.  Seven was surprised at how elated he felt; he couldn’t stop smiling like a giddy child throughout the encounter. He tapped his foot in a cheerful rhyme under the table, and almost took another sip of the dredge that passed here for ale, but caught himself in time — barely. “Well, what do you make of him?”

“Her,” Black Ice Shadow corrected, toying with one of the pieces of jade left on the table. “She’s a woman in this incarnation. Has a fairly nice body, but I still don’t think she’s worth all the effort you’re putting into this.” He cocked his head for a moment and listed to the beat Seven was tapping. “A funeral dirge. Nice.”

Seven managed to stop himself from harrumphing, though it took conscious effort. He set the mug near another one, at the very edge of the table. “Incarnations are meaningless. The soul is all that matters. No matter how many lives Gold-Shadowed Arrow lives, his soul will stay the same.” That was the beauty of it. That was the reason his entire plan was possible. Still, his name in this life was _such_ an improvement.

“She hardly seemed happy to see you again, though. Are you going to kill her? We could just reanimate her again after.” Black Ice Shadow was being uncommonly fatalistic. Maybe he was annoyed at not knowing what Seven had planned.

Seven shook his head sadly. “That’s sick, Black. What sort of thing is that to do to one’s lover? No. What I have in mind is much more elegant.” He leaned in a little closer and pitched his voice low, as though he were divulging a choice piece of gossip. “What do you know about the end of the First Age?”

Black Ice Shadow shrugged. “Not much more than anyone else.” He closed his eyes, as though trying to recall a line from a book, “The First Age ended when the Dragon-Blooded massacred the Solar Exalted and took over Creation. Now we’re about to do the same thing to them and finish the Second Age. The end.”

“Cute, but that’s not the point.” Seven flicked one of the jade pieces at him. “The reason the Solar Exalted had to die goes much farther into history. Have you heard of the Primordial War?”

Black Ice Shadow crossed his arms in annoyance. “Is this a history lesson? The great war between the Gods of Creation and the Elder Gods. They killed some and banished the rest. We serve the fallen Elder Gods until they rise at the end of Creation. What has _that_ got to do with anything?”

“It has to do with _everything_.” Seven was grinning now, his blue eyes were flashing. “It’s the reason the Solar Exalted had to die in the First Age. The Elder Gods cursed them at the end of the war. They drove them absolutely mad. Twisted their souls and turned them into cheerful murdering maniacs. Twisted their _souls_.” He could see Black Ice Shadow already beginning to understand. “In fact,” he continued, “I was created by that curse, myself.”

Black Ice Shadow was staring at him, eyes wide. “You mean that the Abyssal Exalted...?”

“Were once Solars. Exactly. That’s not all, though. The curse is Elder Magic. It’s still alive in the souls of every Solar in Creation. Just being near us two, its effect on Gold-Shadowed Arrow is growing stronger. The same goes for feeling fear, anger, distrust — he’s like a lit fuse, burning down to a keg of insanity.” Seven crossed his arms and leaned back in satisfaction. “Do you understand?”

Black Ice Shadow was quiet for a while, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “Wow.”

“Indeed.”

“I hadn’t known that.” Seven could see how much admitting that rankled to the young Sidereal. He patted him on his shoulder.

“Don’t feel ignorant. Almost no one does know, this Age. The only reason I do is that it happened to me, before.”

“So, what next? That woman isn’t exactly near either of us now. Don’t you mean to chase her?”

Seven signaled for the waitress — a pretty girl, but a bit too thin to suit his taste — to come over. “A good hunter never chases, Black. I only wanted you to see her, and to lure her out of the village. I’ll explain what I have in mind in a while — we’re not pressed for time, and I don’t want gossipers about our talk. Let’s eat before we leave town.”

The young waitress leaned to him and smiled cheerfully, no doubt noticing the number of jade pieces on the table. Seven smiled back, and rose to his feet.

His hand closed around her esophagus, squeezing tight enough to turn her shriek into a croak. The girl’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Then he released his magic in an enormous black storm that drowned out the lights of the inn, plunging the room into darkness. She _really_ stared then.

All around him people were screaming now, as Black Ice Shadow darted among them, ending lives like a very cheerful plague. Seven tried not to pay attention, instead focusing on the pulse beating madly against his thumb. After all, they weren’t in any real hurry. He liked to take his time during meals. It was better for the digestion.

Creatures of Undeath didn’t recover their magic like normal people in Creation. Out of the Shadowlands, they had to find other ways to replenish their energy. Flesh worked well, if it was fresh, and so did blood. Best of all to renew their magic, though, were souls.

They probably didn’t need to kill everyone in the inn for what they had planned next, but they were supposed to be an invading army, right? The least they could do was act the part.

Besides, he really _was_ a bit hungry.

 

* * *

 

Harmonious Jade ran on. She had left the inn nearly two hours ago and a few dozen leagues behind. As soon as she was sufficiently far from the village, she had begun working her magic – pouring energy into her legs, turning her pace into an incredible speed. She had kept that pace – and her magic – for over an hour, running further away from civilization. It’s a shame she had to keep so much effort into maintaining her speed, since she couldn’t stop to tell how far behind her pursuers were. She hoped they _were_ behind her.

Eventually, she had to slow down. The muscles in her legs hurt for a while now. It wouldn’t do to keep running blindly any longer. Harmonious Jade eased her pace to a quick jog, and then to a quick walk, catching her breath.

This far into the woods, there was barely any chance of someone innocent getting caught up in her fight. The next part would be to choose an area to lead the Abyssals to. She kept walking along, looking for a suitable place for an ambush. There seemed to be some kind of clearing up ahead. She could use the open space and the cover of the trees to shoot at them from afar. With luck, she could kill at least one before they found her. She brushed an errant branch aside and entered the clearing.

And there they were, waiting for her.

“Lover,” Seven called out, walking toward her. His arms were spread out in an invitation for an embrace. “What took you so long? We were waiting for a while now.” He smiled another insufferable smile.

She fired without thinking. Her brain didn’t even seem to register when she drew her bow and aimed at the Abyssal. She barely remembered to use her magic, turning the arrow that flew from her bow into a blazing comet, shining so brightly it left a burning afterimage across her eyes.

His hand was a blur, too fast for her to follow. He made catching the arrow seem easy. Black Essence swirled around his arm, and the shaft erupted in a shower of wooden splinters. Seven kept his fist clenched for another moment, before letting the arrowhead in his hand fall to the ground. Even from afar, she could tell what was left of it was a pocked, corroded thing. He looks at her, exasperated. “Are you _quite_ finished?”

All the while, the other pale man sat at the edge of the clearing, smiling at her like a white cherub. When she looked at him, she could suddenly see the purple storm of magic around him, with threads of power stretching away into the trees. The amount of magic he used already turned the ground around him into something barren and dead. The tree he leaned on was rotten. A small part of her noticed, impartially, he wasn’t an Abyssal. Not that it mattered, right now.

This close, Harmonious Jade could tell some of those threads stretch towards _her_. He must have lured her here, manipulating fate and probability. He had drawn her as surely as a fisherman draws in a fish. And she was caught.

Running away from here would be as useless as running away from the inn had been. Besides, she doubted she could escape as far after spending so much power. Fighting outnumbered and without surprise on her side would be suicide, as well. Harmonious Jade forced her arms to relax and straightened, dropping her hands to her sides. “All right, you have me. What do you want?”

Seven drew far too close for comfort. He was still smiling, reminding her of a grinning shark – just as hungry and just as heartless. When he talked, though, he sounded reproachful. “Why so hostile? I only want to talk. We haven’t seen each other in so long, and now you give me the cold shoulder? That’s cruel, Gold, even for you.”

She stared at him. After all his boasting at the inn, he got her _name_ wrong? “What did you call me?” Something about the name he said resonated in her head, pulling at her mind. It reminded her for a moment, strangely, of the voice of the Sun God.

Seven shook his head at her, sadly. “You don’t remember, do you? All the time we spent together, all we felt for one another. Even though you reclaimed so much, you still don’t remember. You even look a lot like you did before, Gold-Shadowed Arrow. Well, except you’re a woman now.” He brushed a hand across his eyes, wiping away an imaginary tear. “Really, it’s enough to make one weep.”

He wasn’t making any sense. She recognizeed the name he said, but the rest of it was impossible. “You’re saying we were lovers, in my past life?” She couln’t mask the incredulity in her voice.

“Is it really so surprising?” His condescending grin was back. “After all, look how wonderfully we’re getting along.”

She was breathing hard now. Everything Zeroun had taught her screamed in her head that it could not have happened. “I am a Chosen of the Sun God.” Her voice was hard, and she gripped the bow so tightly her knuckles turned white. “I was an agent of justice, until the Dragon-Blooded usurped our rightful place. We were just, and true, and kind, and wise.” She was screaming now, her voice resonating around the small clearing. “There is no way I would have ever loved someone like _you_.”

He steped closer, and she backed away instinctively. “Deny it all you want, lover, it won’t make it any less true.” He smiled crudely, and gave her a large wink. “And believe me, we were doing quite a lot of loving, too.”

“We were the deliverers of righteousness.” She was repeating what Zeroun had said to her, chanting it all in her head like a litany. The Sun God had chosen her to be his disciple in Creation. He had chosen her to go against everything that was corrupted and cruel and wicked, everything the Dragon-Blooded and the Abyssals represented.

_If you’re really so just, why are you only killing people?_ Her doubt was like a small whisper in the back of her mind, somehow audible through her constant mantra. It stayed, sharp and throbbing, like a thorn stuck in her finger. The tugging within her was almost strong enough to hurt, now.

Seven caressed her cheek, and she realized with a start that she had stopped backing away from him. “You delivered a lot more than just righteousness.” Was it a coincidence, or did he read her thoughts? Unbidden, snatches of memory rose in her mind:

_What was left of the village was burning slowly, in tiny fires. There was no one left to put them out. Corpses lay all through the streets, arrows rising from the bodies like quills. He had been thorough._

 Harmonious Jade didn’t remember where that village was, or how long ago it was destroyed. She knew, though, inexplicably, that she was the one who destroyed it.

_A man was still standing, a shaft through his neck pinning his body to the wall behind him. Even as Gold-Shadowed Arrow watched, the man twitched, croaking through his ruined throat. Gold-Shadowed Arrow crossed his arms and waited._

_He moved on only after the man had died. _

The memory left her feeling hollow. She had killed plenty of people in her life, but never so many at once. Even when she was an assassin, it was never like that. That was slaughter.

“Do you remember your grave?” Seven looked at her again, like he could see straight into her soul. It was unnerving. Her head hurt even worse. “Didn’t it seem strange to you, how all the traps faced _inwards_?”

She had asked Zeroun about that at the time, and he said it was built probably a means to surprise grave-robbers. He had been to several other Solar tombs, he said. They were all built like that.

“You see, Gold,” Her attention snapped back to Seven, “You and I are not so very different. All you do for your God is act like a glorified killer.” He talked softly, sounding so pleased it was almost as though he was purring. “And you were so _good_ at it.”

She could hardly think. Her headache was growing even worse, pounding like a hammer against her skull. It felt like a battle raging within her head, and through it came the quite whisper again, almost inaudible, but persistent.

It whispered to her: _Maybe he’s right._

Suddenly, the small band of bronze on her wrist flared to life. There was golden Essence all around her, whipping her hair like a mad gale. Seven leaped back, cursing. The palm of his hand was singed and raw. Harmonious Jade didn’t even startle. It felt unimportant, not even worth her attention. Half-heartedly, she looked at her bracelet, at the magic pouring around her, at Seven and his companion, starting towards her. They finally stopped smiling all the time.

Someone grabbed her wrist, and she noticed Zeroun was suddenly standing beside her. He looked concerned, trying to tell her that everything will be fine. She should have reassured him that she’s all right, but it seemed like too much effort. It didn’t matter.

Zeroun was channeling his magic around them, twisting reality and closing the transportation spell that brought him here. As the clearing faded away, she could hear him mutter that the bracelet had proved useful after all.

Harmonious Jade closed her eyes. There didn’t seem to be anything worth looking at.

 

* * *

 

He hadn’t expected that.

He could feel his lover slipping, could almost _see_ how she remembered what he talked about. It wouldn’t take much more of a push for her to break completely. Seven knew she was hearing the curse within her, whispering at her. He could almost hear it himself.

Then the small bracelet on her wrist flared, like a torch being lit. All around him there was a blast of golden Essence, and he had to jump back to avoid getting burned by the magic. It still singed his hand.

There was a man standing besides his lover now, in the middle of the golden magic. Some Solar had come to interrupt him. Seven could feel his face contort into a snarl. He drew his own magic, ready for combat. Whoever the newcomer was, he was about to die, slowly and painfully.

But the other Solar wasn’t even trying to attack. Seven could see, suddenly, the spell being worked around his lover and the man. The other Solar still hadn’t broken his damn _transportation_ spell.

By the time he realized that, the intruder was already twisting the fabric of Creation back around himself. Both Solars disappeared before he managed to reach them, leaving behind a whirl of golden magic and a painful afterimage, green and yellow across his vision.

Black Ice Shadow reached him then, as the after effects of the magic died down. He put a hand to the ground where the two Solars had stood, casting a quick spell of divination. Whatever he discovered, he shook his head in disgust.

“It was her mentor, I think. He gave her an enchanted item.” Black Ice Shadow straightened and looked at Seven, his mouth drawn in a grimace. “I couldn’t follow their spell. They’re leagues away, though, I found out that much.”

He had been so close. So wonderfully, terribly close. Only a few more moments, and he would have been reunited with his lover. He’d had Gold-Shadowed Arrow in his grasp. His hands trembled, looking for something – anything – to take his anger out on. He turned to Black Ice Shadow, slowly, like a marionette jerking on just one string. “I almost _had_ him.” He couldn’t stop his voice from cracking.

“Her.”

Seven blinked, looking at Black Ice Shadow without comprehension. “What?”

“Her,” Black Ice Shadow corrected. “She’s a woman in this incarnation.”

For a long moment, Seven stares at the younger man. Then, the roar burst out of him, like an erupting volcano. It came from his very core, drawing out all his rage and frustration. His magic whirled around him, blacker than the surrounding night. It took every bit of control he had left not to kill the young Sidereal.

Black Ice Shadow looked at him, unperturbed. They both stayed like that another moment, until the Sidereal shrugged.

“Fine. You almost had _him_.”

Seven let out a sigh, letting go of his magic. After so much Essence being released in the clearing, the place suddenly felt empty. He drew his cloak around him. “Fine. Whatever. It doesn’t matter.”

Black Ice Shadow looked at him, bemused. “You’re giving up?”

“Of course not.” Seven scoffed at the Sidereal. He felt better, in control once again. This had only been the first encounter. He simply hadn’t planned well enough beforehand – a  simple matter to fix. “I’ll find Gold-Shadowed Arrow again, and I _will_ take him back. If someone else tries to interfere again, I’ll just kill them.” First, he’ll find that mentor. He’ll make sure that man won’t interrupt him twice. Then her Circle members, to be on the safe side.

“So,” Black Ice Shadow drew his cloak around himself as well, “What now?”

“For now, we’ll return to the Juggernaut.”

Black Ice Shadow looked at him, eyebrows drawn in puzzlement, “You have power left for another major sorcery after spending all that?”

Seven gestured with his head towards the far edge of the clearing. Several wood Elementals were gathering there, peering at them quizzically. With so much magic being released, it was only natural for them to come here, drawn like moths to a flame. He smiled again, wide and predatory.

“Oh, I will in a bit.”

And when the black Essence faded away, a short time later, the clearing was as empty as a grave.

 

*

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
